LebanonStatement by Mr. Maurice Ghazal,
Representative of the Lebanon in ITU, Ministry of Telecommunications

Excellencies
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Dr Touré has shared with us often his vision and commitment to
connect the world.

This is a noble aim.

For its part, I can assure you today that the Lebanese
administration gives its full support to this vision.

Lebanon is committed to reconnecting its population to the rest
of the world by building a thriving, innovative and competitive
telecoms market place driven by a technologically advanced
infrastructure-based sector and offering services at
internationally competitive prices and quality.

Key to this will be investment and a regulatory framework
developed in line with international best practices.

We thank the ITU for acting as a global repository and advisory
body sharing with the world knowledge to enable the global
advancement of information and communications technologies
(ICTs).

Also of huge importance to this aim are the international
standards created within ITU.

We were reminded in Johannesburg during the World
Telecommunication Standardization Assembly last year of the
importance that the global community attaches to standardization
both as a means to further the development of global ICTs but
also as a key tool to bridge the digital divide and thus…
connect the world.

We take particular note of the many decisions of the Assembly
that aim to help the developing nations of the world.

As the international agency for ICTs, ITU has a mandate to
extend equitable and secure access to all the world’s people.

Lebanon as a developing nation acknowledges the importance of
standards and standardization as means of pushing forward the
ICT market.

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly also
adopted key Resolutions related to the Internet: on IPv6 and on
non-discriminatory access to Internet resources for example.

And we note ITU Council’s creation of a working group
dedicated to accelerating the pace of work on Internet-related
public policy issues.

We see ITU as the natural home to this work.

I hope that at this World Telecommunication Policy Forum we
will progress discussion on these important Internet-related
public policy matters.

Another topic that ITU has taken a lead on is that of Next
Generation Networks (NGNs).

As the Secretary General notes in his report, NGNs provide
tremendous opportunities for the telecommunication industry, but
also significant challenges to Member States.

There are clearly some regulatory questions surrounding the
deployment of NGNs.

We will follow closely the discussion on the International
Telecommunication Regulations as a potential means to smooth
migration to NGN.

Excellencies
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

ITU has a reputation for stability and coordination at an
international level.

In these chaotic times this is perhaps even more important today
than it has ever been.

We welcome this dialogue and give our full support to the
Secretary General in his initiative for working towards a safer
and more secure information society through the Global
Cybersecurity Agenda and ITU’s mission to connect the world.